Arsenal stabilised their Champions League campaign last night after the nightmare against Internazionale, but a huge improvement in their European form of the past year will now be needed to avoid the embarrassment of going out in the first round.

Drawing at Lokomotiv hardly constitutes disaster for Arsène Wenger's side, particularly as they showed the defensive resolve lacking against Inter, and did so without Sol Campbell and Patrick Vieira. Yet they have now gone seven games without a win in this competition.

Bottom of the group with one point and no goals from two matches, they may have to win three of their remaining four games to progress. The next two, away to Dynamo Kiev and then at home to the Ukrainian side, will be crucial before a trip toSan Siro.

There were plus points for Arsenal, notably that they were generally solid. Martin Keown impressed after grabbing atten tion for the wrong reason at Old Trafford recently, scenes which he described last night as "very unfortunate", admitting that he and his team-mates had been "a little bit intoxicated in those last few moments".

Keown then defended his character over his long career and stressed he didn't think he "really hurt anybody" at Manchester United. Arsenal did not hurt Lokomotiv as they might have last night, but they had chances and may regard this as two points lost.

Though Lokomotiv were intermittently dangerous, the Russian champions appeared no more than an average side. This was their first Champions League point from a possible 18 over two seasons.

"I think we feel frustrated because we feel we had the chances to win the game," Wenger reflected. "Whether this is a good result or bad result we will know at the end of the competition."

Arsenal did have openings, notably in the second half when Robert Pires was put through by Thierry Henry, but after a bright opening 10 minutes in which Henry twice threatened they rarely looked dangerous.

They have now failed to score in three of their past four matches. Wenger would surely have been keen to freshen things up but clearly he felt his back-up was too weak. Nwankwo Kanu stayed on the bench and the other forwards were the little-used Jérémie Aliadière and David Bentley.

Sylvain Wiltord contributed next to nothing beside Henry. Pires is still not back to his best and Ray Parlour offered little going forward to complement his graft. Edu, playing in Vieira's absence, did offer a sprinkling of perceptive passes. The Brazilian also worked hard when defending alongside Gilberto Silva, and it was Arsenal's work in keeping out Lokomotiv which caught the eye. Kolo Touré made a couple of errors but was solid, and Keown was outstanding.

Afterwards the defender spoke for the first time about the events at Old Trafford, where he goaded Ruud van Nistelrooy, for which he faces an improper conduct charge.

"My football's very important to me and that was a very unfortunate situation but I don't really think I hurt anybody at Old Trafford," Keown said. "At this club we have a very big reputation of doing things the right way and I think we were a little bit intoxicated in those last few moments of the game, and we've been hammered ever since.

"I feel like I live my life properly on and off the field. If you look and see what I do off the field you won't see anything, and generally I do my job on the pitch to a high standard. Generally in my career I have been a good role model for younger players, and what happened at Old Trafford was not brilliant but I think my record's there for everyone to see."

On the few occasions Keown and co were exposed here, Jens Lehmann rescued them.

Arsenal had chances. Henry wasted an early opening and Sergei Ovchinnikov, who made a few good saves, ought to have been beaten by Pires. The Gunners will need to sharpen up.

·A last-minute goal by the Italy centre-forward Christian Vieri snatched a 2-1 win for Internazionale over Dynamo Kiev in Milan. Inter showed none of the attacking verve which destroyed Arsenal a fortnight ago even after Daniele Adani had put them ahead on 23 minutes. Kiev levelled though Sergei Fedorov nine minutes later.